Twilight Watch

This is one of those series that Malcolm bought and recommended to me - and then ended up reading only the first title. Somehow, the Watch titles have all mysteriously migrated to my bookshelf. They're not titles I would have thought to buy for myself, but I am enjoying them. And now, predictably, I realise that it isn't a trilogy - there is a fourth book, entitled Last watch - I wonder if I will make the effort to get it?

That's the thing. I enjoy the books, but they don't excite me enough to make me rush out for the next one. But since there's only one more to go... And I definitely enjoyed Twilight watch more than Day watch. This book at least has seemed to be less science fiction and more of a somewhat philosophical exploration of show more the nature of power, good and evil, and of belonging vs otherness. It is not fast moving but, particularly towards the end, is very poignant and rather sad. It is a fascinating world that Lukyanenko has created - I'm glad Malcolm got me into it. show less

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: Twilight Watch Series: Night Watch Author: Sergei Lukyanenko Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Urban Fantasy Pages: 432 Format: Kindle Synopsis: Anton is now a mature family man with a little 3 year old daughter. His wife has left the Night Watch and while he is still in it, his heart isn't. Throughout the 3 stories presented, Anton must wrestle what it means to be an show more "Other". He must decide if the Light and Dark ones are different after all and if the Inquisition is what he wants, or if it too is an empty body politic. My Thoughts: The idea of a book or spell that can turn people into Others was interesting. The complications, the effects and the ripples from even the Idea of such a thing are shown in each of these stories. The writing was much more polished, less chaotic and random, than the first book. The downside was that the morose and melancholy nature that I so enjoyed from the previous books was also tamped down. Kind of like a campfire after the first 30min. It is now warmer and much more able to fulfill your needs [ie, roasting those horrible 'smores] but it doesn't LOOK like a wild raging fire any more. Tamed. Lukyanenko's philosophical musings, given voice by Anton's thoughts, while running in the same vein as before, are much more "Others" versus "People" instead of "Light" versus "Dark". Anton ends up thinking that ALL "Others" are like magical vampires, as they live off of the magic of people and the world. Which of course, is utter and complete bollocks. That is on the same level as saying that I am a grass vampire because I breathe in the oxygen it produces. In all honesty, Anton has matured and now has a family to be worried about, he doesn't need to sit around and mentally masturbate to such puerile philosophy. I also liked how the Inquisition was shown to be the place for those who had given up hope instead of the last Bastion of Hope for Others. Originally, I believe this was the last book. At least, I know I've seen "The Night Watch Trilogy" on a bunch of older editions of this and earlier books. I do know that there is a fourth book, called The Final Watch, and I'm wondering what Lukyanenko will write about to wrap things up. Aaaaand I just looked and there is a fifth book entitled New Watch, so it looks like I've got a bit more reading a head of me than I thought. I'm ok with that. " show less

This follow-up to the (also amazing) Russian magical reality books Night Watch and Day Watch returns us to Anton's mind and to Anton's relationships with those around him. Focusing on interactions with the mysterious Inquisitors, this book takes Anton further along in his path to understanding that there really is very little difference between Light and Dark and that the shades of Grey they all walk in are probably more suited to all Others than being separated like this.

In the first of the three "books" that are traditionally found in each of these novels, Anton has to go "undercover" into a community of humans to try to discover who, if anyone, has been told about the Others. Not only is it dangerous for the Others to be revealed, show more but whomever revealed the Others to this human has also promised to turn this human into an Other him or herself, which is - according to all but the most forbidden of legends - impossible.

In the second "book," Anton runs across an unregistered and VERY powerful witch as well as several werewolves who were apparently hunting humans while on vacation in his dacha (country house) and has to try to take care of these problems with the help of Svetlana.

In the third "book," a powerful vampire and member of the Inquisition has been murdered and a book thought to be the stuff of legends, that will allow Others to turn humans into Others themselves, has been stolen from the house of the witch Arina. Anton, with the help of the vampire Kostya and the Inquisitor Edgar, has to try to find the culprit and the book.

Lukyanenko has created a vivid world in modern-day Russia. He shows us the despair with which many modern Russians live while they try to adapt to a capitalistic society, a method of life that is completely foreign to everything they've ever known before. Through this is shown the plotting of the Watches and Inquisition and the Others, using the humans often as pawns and foils in their games for glory. It is an often bleak outlook (to me). My husband, on the other hand, found the book to have a lot of humor in it - he says there are a lot of instances of outright slapstick. So I guess it is all in how you look at it - there is a situation where Anton has an old out-of-work drunk work on a BMW. He brings in several friends and they completely take apart the car. They get so involved in it that they even forget to get drunk. Me, I found that sad. My husband thought it was hysterical.

At any rate, do NOT miss this amazing series of books. You will not be sorry for reading them. show less

As always, an excellent book in an excellent series, although a bit weaker than the previous two volumes. This time, our second level magician, Anton, is tasked to look into a request of a human to become an other.... of course, this is an impossibility, or is it?

Generally, these books follow three interconnected vignettes -but this one has two. In the first story, Anton must tract which human made the request, and which other the request was made to. This brings in the Day watch as well as the Inquisition.

The next story has Anton on vacation - feeling confused about how the human wanting to be a Other ended- with his wife Svetlana and their talented two year old daughter. An encounter with an unregistered witch leaves to revelations show more about what it means to be Other.

Where this book shines is just how grounded Anton is - his motivations are torn as he learns more about the watches. It will be interesting to see how this world changes, especially when Antons very powerful daughter comes into her powers. show less

I was originally attracted to the novels by the offbeat, wacky, sometime surprising movies, and wanted to know what the author's intent and ideas were.
What I came to realize is the old cliche that the 'novel is better than the movie' is not only true in this case, the two movies were only a shadow of the complex story lines and depth in just the first Night Watch book, albeit a noble effort to portray the complexity of the developments of a somewhat naive, dislocated young initiate to the Power.
The development of the main themes of the use of Power and Balance (both deservedly capitalized) comes to a crescendo in this book, and the extremely satisfying conclusion of the plot that arises from these basic concepts.
Without putting any show more spoilers in the review, all I can say is that the depiction of the limits of extreme power, and the concepts of how that power is derived is very satisfying to a long-term practitioner of 'soft' martial arts based on Taoist principles. show less

In this installment of the series, Anton must take on an ancient witch who has recently awoken from a sixty year sleep. Though she initially seems harmless, it soon becomes clear that she is wanted for crimes relating to the Soviet era. When Anton's two-year-old daughter is kidnapped, he and Svetlana will stop at nothing to defeat her.

This book delves deeper into the identity of an Other. What makes them different from humans? And is it possible to convert a human to an Other?

An interesting end to the series. Through a series of incidents Anton finds out more about magic in the world and about his wrole in the keeping of the balance. A quite dark world with definite divisions of labour and with interesting attitudes to power.

Is it in everyone's interest to share power equally? The reflections of Soviet Russia are interesting too.